The Figurehead
HMS Warrior was one of the last battleships to carry a figurehead. The original was made in Portsmouth at a cost of E60, but was lost in 1868 when Warrior accidentally collided with HMS Royal Oak. The figurehead's head fell off and was claimed as a prize by the midshipmen on Royal Oak's quarterdeck.
James Hellyer & Sons of Portsmouth, for many years the Royal Navy's leading decorative carvers, were commissioned to carve the replacement. After Warrior ceased active service, the figurehead was removed and placed just inside what is now called Victory Gate of the Portsmouth Naval Base. When the naval unit at Northwood in Middlesex was renamed Warrior in 1962 the figurehead was taken there, but the winter of 1963 left it so damaged that it was destroyed.
Present Day
Standing twelve feet high is the present version — Warrior's third figurehead — all of which have been identical. It was carved from three tons of yellow pine by Jack Whitehead and Norman Gaches in Cowes in the early 1908s, and displayed at the London Boat Show of 1983. It was moved to Portsmouth Dockyard, close to the former site of its predecessor, before finally being put into place in 1985.
( photo captions )
Original figurehead in the 1870s
Second
figurehead displayed ashore at the entrance to Portsmouth dockyard (early 1900s)
Before carving could egin, a three ton block of Canadian yellow pine was glued together to provide the outline of the head.
Jack Whitehead and Norman Gaches
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